The Privations of life in ELMIRA Prison (1864) In the cook house, were a large number of iron kettles in which meat & beans were boiled. These kettles would hold fifty gallons. Salt pork was tossed in; then beans. I've heard boys say, four beans to a gallon of water. 3 weeks on this diet and you'd be sick. It was very salty. Without hesitancy, the death rate here was higher than any other prison. North or South. A prisoner on this diet will crave any kind of fresh meat. On one occasion, they captured a lapdog owned by the baker who came in to bake bread. With his dog missing, he made a complaint to Colonel Beall, and said his wife and children wouldn't take a hundred dollars for the dog. The prisoners were punished with two hour marches wearing a coal oil barrel over their torso's with a placard saying, "I eat a dog." and "Dog eater." They did this throughout the camp at the point of a bayonet. They had no way to pay for the dog they'd eaten. |
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